Kendall County Office Building renovation plans moving forward

Plans are moving forward on a major renovation of the Kendall County Office Building as work finishes up on a new office building for the clerk, recorder and election offices.

At the April 16 Kendall County Board meeting, the majority of county board members approved an agreement with architectural firm Cordogan Clark and Associates to finalize the plans so the project can be put out to bid.

The project, estimated to cost $8.75 million, will include full renovations to the entire building, except the board room and the executive board conference room for the most part. The project will be paid from the county’s fiscal 2024 building fund with the remainder budgeted in the fiscal 2025 building fund.

The board expects to vote on the bid for the project in August and the project would get underway in October. The project is expected to be completed in November 2025.

As board member Brian DeBolt, chairman of the board’s facilities and technology committee, told fellow board members, the elevator for the Kendall County Office Building is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act compliant and is not safety compliant.

“So that would be replaced,” he said. “The stairways would be replaced, which are now enclosed, with a glass atrium to bring natural light into those spaces. The third floor hallway system would be removed and the other two floors would be expanded by department for future growth of Kendall County. And by doing all this, it should take us maybe three decades down the road. As growth continues to come to Kendall County, we have to prepare in advance so that we have the spaces available as the population grows and the programs grow.”

All bathrooms in the building also will be made ADA accessible. Board member Dan Koukol voted against the agreement, saying the timing is not right.

“We have a lot of projects,” he said. “We have a coroner’s office that’s either going to get remodeled, moved, or we are going to build a new one. We have no idea where we’re going to do on that yet. We also have projects that the Sheriff’s Office has informed us of and we have projects all over the county…I just think it’s not the time.”

Kendall County Board Chairman Matt Kellogg said the improvements will improve public access.

“The majority of the public access will be on the first floor instead of people having to go up and down stairs,” he said. “The elevator is antiquated to say the least. We’ve put hundreds of thousands into repairs for it since I’ve been on the board.”

Kellogg has served on the county board since 2016.

Improving public access

Kendall County Administrator Christina Burns talked more about how the project will improve public access, including having a public service window for the treasurer’s office and a reception area outside the county board room.

“It will just be a more inviting atmosphere,” she said. “There will be a three-story open air reception area. There will be better signage and better directions. People often don’t know where they’re going in this building.”

Also as part of the improvements, the main entrance to the building will be moved. The new entrance will face the new building under construction, Burns said.

Other improvements include replacing a diesel generator with a natural gas generator. The project is phase two of the county’s capital improvement program.

Work on the $9.4 million Fox Campus project on Fox Street in downtown Yorkville got underway last summer and is expected to be done in the next couple of months. The centerpiece of the project is a new office building for the clerk, recorder and elections offices, which is being constructed between the historic Kendall County Courthouse and the Kendall County Office Building.

“Right now, we have to store our voting equipment in a number of county buildings just to have enough space,” Burns said. “It puts everything in one space. It’s just much more functional.”

The Courthouse building houses Kendall County Forest Preserve offices and the Regional Office of Education along with Kendall Area Transit, a public transportation service for Kendall County residents with a priority for serving disabled individuals and seniors.

Improvements will be made to the county’s public safety center as part of phase three of the county’s capital improvement program.

“It was always envisioned as a multiple phased renovation,” Burns said. “The Sheriff’s Office is really out of space. They’ve had to divide offices. Something that was originally intended for one person now houses two people.”